See, MS have made it free for downloading as it gets released. Making discs and selling them isn't cool. Unless they are only charging for the disc. Even then, they are losing money.
And I have gone years without live before. It's not the worst thing in the world. Now, SO is free, but for Gold members. Having access to a whole extra campaign seems nice for only the price of live. Heck, we went through Halo 2 and 3 with no extras. not even firefight. They added all this extra gameplay and I think a few extra bucks isn't a lot to ask.
BTW, if it costs $100 a month for live there, Halo 4 would cost $600 for the standard edition, yes? I think that's a bit of a hyperbole. I can't think of any place with an economy that bad that has internet access.
I'm not against your cause, but I can definitely see where MS is coming from.